


Twirl

by aliencereal



Category: Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Female Friendship, House Party, Mutual Pining, Pancakes, Pre-Canon, Texting, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-06
Updated: 2015-10-14
Packaged: 2018-04-25 03:44:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4945516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aliencereal/pseuds/aliencereal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They talk around it for long enough to become best friends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Arrowdite](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arrowdite/gifts).



> Written for a tumblr prompt to elaborate on Ashley's line about her and Chris always talking around their feelings! Basically a ton of mutual pining.
> 
> There's a lot of talk of throwing up (but nobody actually does), some mild victim blaming regarding Hannah, and one flippant joke about war flashbacks in here, but it's all pretty tame. Still, please be safe if any of these things bother you.
> 
> May have additional installments.

"So is it just going to be us? Or are Josh's friends coming too?" Sam asks over lunch.

Ashley, who'd already RSVPed to the Washingtons' party, had been reading instead of paying attention. The reference to 'Josh's friends' is important enough to put down Ray Bradbury, though.

"I think just Chris," Is it Ash's imagination, or is Beth looking at her when she says that?

"Ugh. Another two hours of hearing about fucking _flappy bird_ ," Emily groans. Jessica laughs. Ashley does not. She likes it when Chris shows her his phone games. He's cute when he's excited and most of them are pretty fun.

She takes a deep breath and reminds herself of the consequences of defending a crush in this circle. The last time Hannah argued on Mike's behalf, the words 'pathetic', 'desperate' and 'delusional' suddenly became central to all the gossip for weeks.

"So, um. Has anyone heard from the guys?" Speak of the devil, there's Hannah. Ashley's stomach churns with secondhand embarrassment. It's so painfully obvious that her friend is talking about Mike.

"I saw Matt after first period, he still needs to talk to his parents." And there's Sam with the save. Thank God.

"What about Mike?" Seriously, Hannah? Ashley wants to shake her. How can she not realize how _stupid_ she's being? Emily is going to tear her to pieces.

Or she might smile saccharine-sweet and lean against the table. Ashley has never seen her make that face, but it's a safe bet it isn't a good sign.

"I'll ask him when he comes over tonight," Emily says, prompting a squeal of delight from Jessica.

"You and Mike? Since when?"

Beth and Sam are both looking worriedly at Hannah. Ashley pretends she doesn't notice.

*

The party is a Saturday night disaster. P!NK is blasting from the speakers, Mike and Emily have been making out for the past twenty minutes, Hannah has been _missing_ for those twenty minutes, Josh is drunk and trying to flirt with Sam, Jessica is far _more_ drunk and dancing with Beth.

It's one of the very few times Ashley misses middle school. Sure, everything had been hell, but at least the parties had involved apples to apples instead of hearing loss and cheap beer. Whatever she's drinking tastes like lime-flavored ass.

The saving grace of the whole thing is, as per usual, Chris. He's moderately tipsy from drinking the same crap as she is, but it hasn't made him any less talkative. It makes him talk with his hands more, which is a little bit hypnotizing. It's entirely possible that she's had too much to drink.

"So Vine, it's like, it's like the Twitter of video sites, y'know, so it makes sense that Twitter wanted to buy it, 'cause it's what they're good at, so why not more of a good thing?"

He's putting a lot of effort into explaining the short video of a cat falling off a shelf that's playing over and over on his phone. And talking _really_ fast. Ash is pretty sure his explanation had been less choppy and confusing before she's set her head on his shoulder to get a better look at the screen. Or maybe she's just paying less attention? He smells really good, like one of the nice kinds of boy deodorant. She wants to burrow into his hoodie and live there.

Yeah, definitely drunk.

She puts her drink down on the coffee table. Chris stops talking immediately when she moves, but the video keeps looping on his phone. Ashley can just hear the yowling cat over Katy Perry singing about her flaky boyfriend.

Alcohol creates great deniability, so Ashley tucks herself back into her spot against Chris. She wants him to put an arm around her shoulders to make it properly cozy, but it doesn't happen. He isn't even looking at her. Ashley swallows the disappointment and makes a mental note to stop getting her hopes up before she turns into Hannah 2.0.

"Wow, they are _really_ going at it," Chris says, just before the silence gets too awkward to stand. Ashley follows his line of sight to find that Emily and Mike have moved to the other couch. Jesus, how drunk _are_ they?

"I hope Beth breaks that up before Hannah comes back," Ashley mutters, imagining how bad the fallout will be if she doesn't. Chris looks surprised and Ashley wants to kick herself. He's Josh's friend, not Hannah's, why would he know?

"Is something going on?"

Ashley hesitates, then sighs and hazards a bit of eye contact.

"If I tell you, you can't tell anyone, okay?"

"Yeah, Ash, of course."

*

Ashley wakes up with a headache and spends the first five minutes of the day listening to Hannah cry through the wall. It's accompanied by Sam and Beth's voices, which means two things. One, there isn't anything Ashley can do that her friends aren't already doing better than she could, and two, she won't have a ride home for a while. Sam had driven her yesterday and calling her mom with a hangover? Not the best plan.

She sneaks out of the guest bedroom she'd been sharing with Jessica and heads immediately downstairs. She needs to use the bathroom, but if she remembers correctly, the one upstairs is where Josh passed out last night.

She passes Matt asleep in the front hallway and steps into the bathroom. God, she looks terrible. Did she look like this when she was talking to Chris last night?

Once she's done in the bathroom, she takes a quick inventory of all her stuff. She still has her house keys and cell phone, but she's lost her hat. Well, won't be looking for that this morning. She hasn't seen Mike or Emily yet and the last thing she wants to do is run into both of them. You know, together. And naked.

She does her best to fix her hair and heads out into the kitchen. Does orange juice help with hangovers or did she mishear that?

"Hey, Ash."

Ashley nearly jumps out of her skin.

"Chris! Don't scare me like that!" She puts a hand over her heart. Chris raises his hands in surrender. It looks like he was on the hunt for breakfast too, if the open cabinets are any indication.

"Sorry, sorry, didn't mean to. How're you feeling?"

She could lie, but her whole look right now probably gives her away.

"Like shit," She sighs, leaning against the counter. "Not as bad as Hannah, though."

Ashley gestures up towards the ceiling, frowning. She can just barely hear Sam's consoling voice through it. Chris nods.

"Poor Han. Josh'll be all over that once he's up."

"He's... Okay, right? You checked on him?" Ashley hadn't really had her head together last night, but now that she's sober, she feels pretty bad about leaving him on the bathroom floor.

"Yeah, brought him a blanket when I got up. I think he thanked me, but it might have been a snore."

Ashley laughs a little.

"Find anything good?" She asks, tilting her head towards the open cabinet. Chris shakes his head.

"Nah, mostly Mrs. Washington's weird cereal."

Ashley makes a face, and Chris laughs. There's an odd hesitation before he talks again.

"Hey, uh. You wanna go get IHOP or something?"

Ashley's heart lurches violently. She must look surprised, because Chris backtracks very quickly.

"They do takeout! We could bring something back for Hannah, that'd cheer her up."

There's that vicious disappointment again. Of course Chris is worried about Hannah, he's so _sweet_. And why would he want to ask her out when she looks like she got hit by a train?

"I think pancakes would do _everyone_ a world of good," Ashley agrees, not quite looking Chris in the eye. His shoulders relax and he smiles.

"Let me leave a note and we'll go."

*

Chris' car smells like McDonald's, which is probably because he has about eight cheeseburger wrappers in the back seat. He has the good grace to look sheepish when she points them out.

"I've been meaning to clean that up."

Ashley snorts.

"Sure you have."

"You should see Mike's car," Chris says, and Ashley makes a face.

"I'd really prefer not to. Didn't somebody puke in his backseat on Halloween?"

Now it's Chris' turn to make a face.

"I've blocked that entire evening from my memory, you're giving me war flashbacks."

Ashley laughs for real.

"Hey, if I have to remember that nightmare, so do you," She says as Chris backs out of the driveway.

"As much as misery loves company, maybe we should just _both_ try to forget the vomit-pocalypse."

"Jessica threw up in my witch's hat! You don't just forget something like that!"

"Yeah, that sucked. You made a really cute Hermione."

Ashley had been watching the road to keep a lid on her carsickness, but that seems like a good moment to actually look at him. Is he blushing or is she imagining things?

"So do you think Emily only got with Mike to spite Hannah?" Chris blurts out before she can comment on it. God, Ashley had almost forgotten how much she told him last night.

"No, I think she really likes him. Last night's display, though, that was a dick move."

"Nothing pancakes can't cure, right?"

Ashley isn't sure about that, but she doesn't argue.

"Yeah. Um. Thanks for listening to me last night, by the way." Ashley fiddles with the bracelet she's wearing.

"It's cool. I always like talking to you. Even when you're totally smashed."

Ashley makes a noise in protest. It comes out as more of a squawk than she would have liked.

"I was not! You were just as drunk as I was!"

"Hey, I wasn't the one trying to convince Jess to read Harry Potter at two in the morning." Chris is laughing, but she doesn't feel like he's laughing _at_ her.

"She's only seen the movies!"

"I agree, it's a travesty, but I don't think Jess could read a text message that drunk, let alone a novel."

"Are you volunteering to take up the cause when she's sober?"

"It's a noble quest. I would be honored to join your ranks, o righteous one."

"Smartass."

"I'm serious! Do you think we could sell her on the audio books?" Chris asks, laughing.

Ashley can't help but smile.

*

"Was this your plan? Bribe me with Harry Potter so I'd help you carry all these freakin' pancakes?" Ashley asks once they've been presented with their carry-out bags. Chris laughs and grabs the lion's share of the food.

"Nah, I just wanted the company."

Ashley finds that remarkably hard to argue with. She grabs the remaining bags without complaint.

*

Breakfast is an awkward affair, to say the least.

Emily is wearing Mike's shirt, which leaves Mike not wearing a shirt at all. The other girls have huddled around Hannah. Jessica isn't actually eating or participating in the whispered conversation-- she's snuggled against Beth, likely asleep. Josh is watching them, looking confused. Matt appears to be equally baffled.

Ashley sits at the edge of the girl-huddle, close enough to be part of it but not feel obliged to participate. She doesn't feel comfortable here. She didn't try to help Hannah like Beth and Sam, and she wasn't drunk enough to have an excuse like Jessica.

She wants to sit with Chris. Chris is safe and nonjudgmental.

God, he even paid for her pancakes. She's one sweet gesture away from being eaten alive by this crush.

After breakfast, he offers to drive her home.


	2. Chapter 2

Ashley has never been friends with a boy she likes before. She's hung out with a few of them, sure, but there's a difference between sitting at the same lunch table with someone and texting them nonsense in the middle of the night.

Chris: the common app doesn't have emoji support  
Chris: how will i write this essay

If Ashley smiles embarrassingly wide, well, nobody is here to see it but her cats.

Ashley: Use emoticons. They're checking to see if you remember how to do this long form. Smiley face long division.  
Chris: i'm not a savage ash  
Chris: civilized people say no to ;-P  
Ashley: ;-P ;-P ;-P  
Chris: i'm calling the police  
Ashley:   
Chris: there's no going back now  
Chris: you're a wanted woman  
Ashley: They'll never catch me. My network is too vast. :-)  
Chris: you fiend!!  
Ashley: Write your essay, dork.

They have this stupid conversation on Tuesday. On Friday, Ashley sits with Chris after school to help him edit.

"I'm impressed. You wrote this whole thing without a single emoji, yet, it's coherent!" She says, highlighting a run-on sentence. Chris laughs, which makes her heart skip a little. She loves making him laugh.

"It was a real challenge. That's a Herculean effort you're looking at, right there."

Ashley snorts and pokes him with the back of her highlighter.

"You're terrible."

"But is my essay terrible, that's the real question."

It actually isn't. It needs editing, sure, but she gets what he was going for and the actual content is there.

"Oh, it's just awful, what are you going to do to pay me back for rescuing it?" Ashley keeps her tone light and teasing, looks up from the paper to smile playfully.

"How about dinner?"

*

It isn't a date. Ashley's learned the steps to this dance; Chris is a master of mixed signals. She isn't sure if he likes her back or if this is just how he treats his friends. But it isn't a date. It never is.

Even so, she gets Sam and Hannah on Skype as soon as tennis practice is over. The two of them have had sleepovers on Friday nights since middle school. Ashley's quietly jealous, and she suspects Sam, at least, knows that. Today, though, it's easier to have both of them in one place.

"You can't tell Emily."

Hannah nods enthusiastically. She loves gossip and Emily hasn't exactly been on her good list since she hooked up with Mike. Sam looks more patient than excited.

"And you're sure this is a just-friends thing?" Sam asks. Ashley groans and nods.

"It's always a just-friends thing, Sam. Always."

"So let's change that!" Hannah says, hopping up off the bed she and Sam are sitting on for the Skype call.

"Oh no," Sam says, but she's smiling fondly. "You have a plan, Han?"

Ashley hears Hannah laugh and then there's the familiar squeak of her closet door. She comes back into view of the camera, holding up a pink dress.

"Sweetheart neckline, above the knees skirt, ribboned waist. The perfect dress for the casual seductress!"

Ashley wonders how much of that assertion is lifted directly from Cosmo magazine. She can't argue with it, though. It's a really cute dress.

"I don't know if seduction is the way to go..." Ashley says. If this goes badly, it could damage the underlying friendship, and that's the last thing she wants.

"That's why it's casually seductive, total deniability! Just a little something to hint you're not completely sold on this 'platonic' business."

Ashley sighs. Hannah has a point.

"You think I can pull it off?" It's really a non-question. She's already thinking about which pair of shoes might match.

"I think he'll like whatever you wear," Sam assures her. Ashley has her doubts.

"But the dress can't hurt!" Hannah adds, beaming. "Do you still have the strapless bra you wore with your homecoming dress?"

Ashley nods, even though she hates that bra. It stays on well enough, but she always feels like it's going to fall off.

"Okay, good, you'll need it. Oh, you can borrow some of my shoes, I have a pair the Internet says are fuck-me heels--"

"Woah! Hannah, the dress is enough, this isn't a date," Ashley cuts her off before she can get any farther into dress-up mode. Hannah frowns.

"I thought we were trying to make it one?"

"We're trying to maintain plausible deniability," It's important that Ashley gets this point across. Hannah can get worked up pretty quickly.

"So no fuck-me heels?"

"We're just getting pizza!"

*

Ashley drives herself to the pizza place from Sam's house. She's wearing Hannah's Cosmo dress with her own goddamn shoes, and they'd French-braided her hair by committee. She feels overdone for a not-date, regardless of the number of reassurances her friends had sent her off with.

She spots Chris sitting on a bench outside of the restaurant, glued to his phone.

"I'm not late, am I?" She's cursing the braiding process as she says it, but then he looks at her.

The dress does its job. His eyes drop immediately to her cleavage. He catches himself almost as quickly, turning beet red and focusing his attention firmly on her face.

"No! You're, uh, you're on time, I was just early. That dress is--" He swallows. "A nice color on you."

Ashley smiles, feeling triumphant.

(Chris asks the greeter for a table for himself and his friend. Ashley feels quite a bit less triumphant after that.)

**Author's Note:**

> My tumblr is xenokink.tumblr.com!


End file.
